A Report On E-C Translation Of History Text Based On The CEA Framework

The author participated in the translation project of the history text América which,written by Robert Goodwin,tells the history of the Spanish Empire’s colonization of North America from 1493 to 1898.In the process of translation,due to the different national cultural backgrounds,cultural differences between China and the west,the cross-temporal communication,and insufficient understanding of the source language,the author has encountered a series of difficulties,which are mainly reflected in the respects of understanding,expression,and adaptation.There are numerous terms in the original text,including Spanish names,geographical names,administrative positions,history events,etc.Moreover,there also exists some literary techniques that require the translator to consult various dictionaries and relevant literature materials,possess a relevant history and cultural background knowledge,express the richness of language in the source text,and reflect the real connotation of the writer to realize the unity of history and literariness.Guided by the “Comprehension,Expression,Adaptation” Framework put forward by Li Changshuan,the translator draws upon relevant translation theories proposed by other scholars and uses the case analysis method to analyze the typical problems encountered in the translation practice from these three levels and summarizes findings and related translation experience.The comprehension level refers to three aspects:Understanding the meaning of relevant historical terms,including Spanish names,administrative positions,history events,etc.,Searching for relevant background information and combining it with context to grasp the main idea and linguistic style,solving problems that existed in the first draft at the comprehension level.Expression focus on the output process,involving difficulties such as illogical expression,inaccurate words,and westernized Chinese in translation.The author of the report proposed several countermeasures to adjust the syntactical structure and avoid the westernized Chinese.At the adaptation level,the translator mainly took adaptation in terms of both contents and forms for different translation purposes in the translation process.Due to the particularity of the history text,faced with information redundancy,ambiguity,and loss of information,the translator adopts different translation strategies,including omission,simplification,and explanation to add or delete information flexibly.Formally,when it is not feasible to translate according to the source text,the translator interprets the cultural phenomena in the source text by shifting statements to improve the communication effect.This report aims to reflect on the process of solving translation problems under the guidance of the CEA Framework and summarize the translation experience and methods.The translator hopes to provide some inspiration and references for people who study translation and carry out similar translation practices.